As an American citizen, Meghan Markle may not be aware that, up and down the land, the British public is preparing to celebrate her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19 in its own special way. Or that (whisper it) not all of us are that interested in the actual event, but see it as a great excuse to close the road, get the bunting out and do what we do best: sit about on plastic chairs, feasting on Victoria sponge and warm prosecco while discussing the state of the nation, possibly under a light drizzle, and wearing a Union Jack apron.

“The family is often doing everything to avoid the conversation going to ‘the worst place’ in case it gets emotionally horrible. But actually it becomes a lot calmer once you start asking: If she is so sick, she can’t be saved what sort of things should we all be doing now so we don’t regret anything? I don’t want them to wish in two week’s time, when they’re suffering agonising grief, that they’d had that conversation.” Palliative care consultant, Dr Kathryn Mannix.

Felix’s parents, Matt and Colleen allowed scientists to draw his blood after he died. His cancer cells were subsequently used in the lab to develop new drugs which are now being put forward as frontline treatment for children with Felix’s disease.

Why does the ‘miracle’ new cancer therapy help people like Charlie – but not others? This groundbreaking treatment shrinks tumours by ‘switching on’ the immune system to fight foreign cells, but data so far suggests it won’t work for the majority of cancers

Long abandoned, this grim orphanage for the children of Liverpool seamen has reopened — as a tourist attraction for believers in the paranormal. I went back to the institution that made my own mother’s childhood a misery.

Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong and potentially lethal affliction that has reached epidemic proportions. It is incredibly difficult to manage — young sufferers and their families tell their moving stories.

Fives years’ ago I met musically talented children from poorer families all over London who had been chosen to receive financial support and mentoring so they could continue to play their instruments. I went back to find out whether the scheme had been a success

It costs £123,000 a year to send severely traumatised children who have been multiply excluded from primary schools to The Mulberry Bush School in Oxfordshire, where experts help unravel years of abuse and neglect.

In many parts of Africa, the most prolific killer of young girls is pregnancy. Those who don’t die in childbirth, suffer appalling damage. I met pregnant twelve-year-old girls facing child birth in a Sierra Leone Slum.